42 An Anglers Paradise. 
when the submerged vegetation disappears, and before its place is 
supplied by the aquatic forms so necessary in a lake where a good 
stock of trout is to be maintained. All this was carefully con- 
sidered at Vyrnwy, but notwithstanding the care which has been 
taken to retain the necessary favourable conditions, the year 1892 
saw a decided falling off in the fishing. It is only fair, however, 
to the lake, to say that during 1893 the fishing improved again, 
and the catch was greater than ever it had been before. It is, 
therefore, quite likely that Vyrnwy may “beat the record” in this 
respect, for I have hardly known an instance of a newly made 
lake that did not shew a falling off after the first results, which are 
usually good. 
The summer of 1893 was unusually dry, and the result was 
that the water level lowered, until in places a considerable amount 
of foreshore was left bare. Upon parts of this a good crop of 
vegetation sprung up, and on the rise of the water this was 
submerged, and it is a noteworthy fact, that some of the best 
fishing ground is in the neighbourhood of this submerged 
vegetable growth. A very important lesson is to be learned from 
this, for it teaches us clearly, that even the lowering of the water 
in a reservoir, by which the banks are left dry, may be turned to 
good account, by the sowing of a suitable crop of vegetation. 
It certainly may be made highly beneficial, by building a few 
retaining banks, behind which water would remain, and which 
might be made exceedingly valuable as food producing grounds, 
and which would, to a large extent, tend to compensate for the 
laying bare of the foreshore. 
The well known fishery of Loch Leven is another example 
of what might be done by cultivating a piece of water. Prior to 
1830, this loch is said to have been upwards of 4,300 acres in 
extent; but during that year, a drainage scheme which was carried 
out reduced it to 3,543 acres, lowering the level of the water 
permanently some four and a half feet, and leaving a barren 
margin. A few years later, the fishing of the loch was found to 
have been seriously injured by these operations, and it was 
calculated that it had been reduced quite one third in value. A 
more natural result could not have been, and a large number of 
our lakes have suffered in the same way, the tendency having 
